Statistician

the most intelligent and articulate depiction of where politics is today and why the system so desperately needs replacing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_IAI5THd-E

We moved to Bromley more than a year ago. We even had a look at the properties in Trinity Village - shoe boxes. It depends which part of Bromley you choose to live. Chislhurst, is a very nice area but expensive. But Petts Wood, parts of Orpington, Green st Green, and Chelsfield are very nice too. The schools are exceptionally good, most are rated Good and Outstanding by OFSTED. Transport link to central London is excellent - only 15 minutes from Orpington to London Bridge on Fast trains. But, the prices (as well as rents) are generally 10-20% cheaper than comparible properties/area in the other outer boroughs of London. I genuinely do not know why.

It is the same problem and exactly the same massege with the RBS.

Why???? I wonder what is happening? Perhaps we do not live in the real world. http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/historical/Oct_2011.pdf

Thank you.

Can you tell me where it was wrong?

I appreciate your point. but see my reply above.

Yes, I appreciate your point. But at the same time I have to live somewhere. If I do not buy I have to rent. I have a repayment mortgage and make use of low interest rates. Imagine the prices go down another 10% (this is just an ASSUMPTION some might think it will go down more or less). I would lose around 25k. On the other hand if I rent I would have to pay almost 10k more on my rent compared with my interest payments for the same property. In this case, yes I will still lose around 10-15k given these ASSUMPTIONS, but instead my family will be in a better position than we are at the moment. Plus, I can afford it.

Just to report on my house purchase. First just to clarify that I believe that house prices are still in bubble, but I could not wait any longer. I have been watching the market for almost a year mainly in zones 5 and 6 of the Greater London, inside M25. The areas I have been watching are known as middle class areas. Even in these areas I have seen great reductions in the last couple of months, sometimes up to 10%, in places like Bromley and Orpington which are mainly middle class. However, I have noticed that most of properties coming onto market in these area are those of the deceased or the one’s that want to downsize or move out of London. So, I seriously looked around for a few weeks and finally found what I wanted. I needed a 3-4 bed property within a price range of 250 to 300 thousand pounds near good schools and within walking distance of a train station. I found a house which is in good condition (only required some decoration) near a school that is rated as outstanding in the OFSTED report (a have a 4 year old kid) and is within 5 minutes walking distance of a mainland train station. It provides the space I need for my little family. The house was advertised/prices the same as the peak time. But my final offer was 10% lower than the peak time, around 2005-2006 levels, which I could comfortably afford. All in all I am satisfied with my decision. I know that the prices are going to go down further. But because I found what I wanted and know that I can afford it even if the interest rates go back to their long term average, I could not wait any longer. Here was my story. Just to point out again, from my observation even prices in the nice areas of London, middle class areas out of central London, in zones 4, 5, and 6 are coming down.

I was wondering how/where I can find a solicitor who can do conveyancing properly without being a waist of time and money. I appreciate any comments/suggestions. Thanks guys.

Go here to Radio 4 Prog Moneybox on the UK Housing scam http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/9538647.stm

There are no hard and fast rules about this. Your approach is reasonable and common, but it does not mean that it works for every house/area/time. I, personally, take your approach, but do my homework/research before increasing my offer. I would suggest you to research recent sold prices of similar properties in the area. if you are rentling, calculate whether you would be better off buying or continuing the status co. If you are buying in a reletively good area, then the prices are more robust compared with the prices of properties in the less appealing areas.

It's 2 minutes walk to a (mainline) train station, Southeastern Train, where you can get to the centre of London, Canon Street, within 30-35 minutes.

This house, a 2-bed Bungalow is on the market by two EAs, look at links below to the relevant rightmove ads, but the price suggested/advertised by the EAs are ridiculously different. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34204124.html and http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32908421.html?premiumA=true

Very wise comment, I can not agree more with you. That is why I like this website

Think twice before taking the legal route as you plan to sell your house. Legally, you are obliged to provide true/correct information regarding your neighbours to any potential buyers if they ask for it. If you take the legal route, then you are unable to lie (that they are nice, quiet lovely people etc etc) since your compliant will be registered at your local council/police station.

This can be one of the solutions if you are a single, but if you have a family with young kids moving is a nightmare. And, it is even impractical in the current circumstances if you own the property.

I have sympathy for you and completely understand how you feel. I/we live in a terrace house and had a similar problem with a neighbour (a tenant). He was a troublesome young man and played very loud music early morning and late at night. Unfortunately, my experience is that no one can help much to sort out this kind of behaviour if the individual involved does not want to cooperate. The best way in my opinion is to somehow talk to the person - which I know that it is not always work easy. What I did with my neighbour was to very calmly explain that his loud music was very disturbing. Despite my initial warning/talk he continued his behaviour and whenever I saw him I again very calmy reminded him of our previous conversation/discussion about him playing loud music and reminded him again that it was still disturbing. I continued doing this for some time (a few weeks) and gradually realised that it was sinking in and getting into his thick head that his music was too loud. His music was still loud after all this talk, but it was not as disturbing as before. You can follow the legal route with council and police - some of my friends who had similar problems with their neighbours have done that - but they were all counterproductive. In one case council removed all the equipment and issues the warning to the noisy neighbour, but the individual still continued with his disturbing and bad behaviour.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/12/commodities-boom-over-says-goldman

Well said, if you want to have any latest luxury (some might say essentials which I disagree) that is coming to market on debt, that's what you should expect. Buy the latest flat LCD TV, the bigger it is the better - never mind the price because it is on my CC, the biggest house, the most recent car, the latest Ipad, the Iphone, ....., all on credit. The list never ends. I know it is very tempting and hard to stay away, but sometimes having a little bit of wisdom prevents you of being in this situation/mess.

Thanks for this. Although I am not an expert, I am aware of this to some extent. I just wanted to point out something else which I did in another post above. Thanks for providing this enlightenment anyway.

The last bit which I believe is completely wrong "...probably nets down to zero." If that is the case why they pay something between 0-1% interest for savings, but they charge, on average, above 5% interest on mortgages, which is the least expensive debt, and up to 20% interest for other types of debt.

Can you expand on this please. Try to explain it in layman terms.

Well said and completely true, but it requires some sort of wisdom to see it.

Since when has it been acceptable to advertise for gazumping, whereby an offer has been accepted? Part of property description advertised by the EA - see below link on rightmove: "We are acting in the sale of the above property and have received an offer of £230,000. Any interested parties must submit any higher offers to Your Move Bexleyheath agent before an exchange of contracts takes place." http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17146329.html?backListLink=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Fmap.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DSTATION%255E8252%26minPrice%3D200000%26maxPrice%3D300000%26maxDaysSinceAdded%3D1%26minBedrooms%3D3%26maxBedrooms%3D4%26displayPropertyType%3Dhouses%26oldDisplayPropertyType%3Dhouses%26radius%3D1.0%23_includeSSTC%3Don%26auction%3Dfalse%26displayPropertyType%3Dhouses%26locationIdentifier%3DSTATION%255E926%26maxBedrooms%3D4%26maxPrice%3D300000%26minBedrooms%3D3%26minPrice%3D200000%26oldDisplayPropertyType%3Dhouses%26previousSearchLocation%3DBexleyheath%2520Station%26radius%3D1.0%26searchLocation%3DBexleyheath%2520Station%26searchType%3DSALE%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26box%3D0.11175%2C0.14076%2C51.45299%2C51.46636%26popupPropertyId%3D17146329%26mapType%3DMap&fromMap=true